It is snowing here in Palestine. My visitors from Gaza (a child being treated and
his father) wish to go back to their family even though their wife tells us that
they have no water and no electricity and that parts of the refugee camp that
they live in is flooded (in Rafah). But we
are all concerned for the even more precarious position of refugees from Syria
(both Palestinain and Syrians who esca[ped the fighting and now live in tents
in a snow blizzard).
Those horrific conditions in Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, and
Jordan make it even harder to understand the subservience to Israel of Mahmoud
Abbas and company. In meeting with journalists in South Africa, Abbas went
against the growing BDS movement that is supported by hundreds of Palestinian
civil society organizations. Abbas said
to journalists in answer to a question: “No we do not support the boycott of
Israel. But we ask everyone to boycott the products of the settlements. Because
the settlements are in our territories..… But we don’t ask
anyone to boycott Israel itself. We have relations with Israel, we have mutual
recognition of Israel.” What mutual recognition is he talking about since
Israel does not recognize any rights nor does it recognize there is a
Palestine. His comments drew condemnation from South African and Palestinian
activists. Abbas also did not mention the refugees, the ethnic cleansing, the Israeli apartheid, or even the close cooperation between Apartheid
South Africa and Apartheid Israel including in nuclear weapon development.[that was part of the reason Netanyahu and Peres both skipped the ceremonies as there was a call in South Africa to protest their attendance]
The denial of Palestinian rights to please Israel seems to
know no boundaries. The World Bank just
sent a press release (available in Hebrew and English but not Arabic at the
world bank website). The release hails
the signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for implementation of Phase 1 plans of
the horrific Red Sea-Dead Sea project.
The Phase 1 MoU was signed by Israeli apartheid minister and war
criminal Silvan Shalom, by Minister Hazim El-Naser for Jordan
and Minister Shaddad Attili for the Palestinian Authority. The MoU includes:
a) the development of a Jordanian desalination plant in Aqaba where the water
produced will be shared with Israel free, b) releases of water by Israel from
Lake Tiberias for use in Jordan (Jordan will pay for it even though it is part of
the 1994 agreement), c) the sale of
about 20-30 million m3/year of desalinated water from Mekorot (the Israeli
water utility) to the Palestinian Water Authority for use in the West Bank
(this is also Palestinian water), d) a pipeline from the desalination plant at
Aqaba would convey brine to the Dead Sea to study the effects of mixing the
brine with Dead Sea water.
My field of research focuses on environmental issues. All
environmental groups (even Israeli ones) opposed these plans from the time that
Israel as a colonial power tried to peddle them in the 1990s. As all colonial powers, they destroy things and
then destroy in other areas. The
Red-Dead Canal is it is now known intends to “save the shrinking Dead Sea”. But there
are two main sources of decline in Dead Sea Water levels: A) Diversion of
upstream waters which resulted in decrease in water flow in the Jordan River
from 1300 million cubic meters (mcm) annually in the early 1950s to about 200
mcm and B) Dead Sea water used per year by the chemical industries is estimated
at > 262 MCM. Both of these environmental problems are from Israel. Instead of reversing them, Israel (now with
help of Jordanian and Palestinian authorities) intends to create a new problem.
It is highly disturbing to see this trend of destruction, collusion, lack of
direction, and continued people suffering.
Revealed: how Israel offered to sell South Africa nuclear
weapons
Exclusive: Secret apartheid-era papers give first
official evidence of Israeli nuclear weapons
Red Sea – Dead Sea canal and desalination, destruction of
the Wadi Araba area
Palestinian activism grows at US universities: Despite heavy
backlashes, academic institutions are increasingly endorsing boycotts against
Israel's occupation
In South Africa, Abbas opposes boycott of Israel
Walid Khalidi’s classic book “Before Their Diaspora: A photographic
history of Palestinians 1876-1948” Now available online
Better Six Billion than 6 Trillion! Bibi and Bandar Badger Obamam.. What the GCC/Arab League/Israeli team
is asking of its western allies (meaning of course mainly the US) is to
immediately fund the IF to the tune of $ 5.5 billion. This, Israeli security officials
argue, is pocket change compared to the $6 trillion spent in US ‘terrorist’
wars of the past decade.
On The Side Of The Road by Israeli journalist Lia
Tarachansky poses difficult questions about memory and responsibility and
relates to how Israeli Zionists refuse to face the past and own-up to the
crimes of ethnic cleansing (that are still ongoing)
Silence is complicity
Extraordinarily insightful and principled commentary - thank you! Just as was Mandela, so especially appropriate at this time. As for Abbas...I'll use the unused words -- Quisling, Dupe, Traitor. Mark Bruzonsky - MiddleEast.org
ReplyDeleteThanks; I've shared your article on the Facebook page Call for the Cultural Boycott of Israel; insightful
ReplyDeletePeople should look at things thermodynamically and see Earth relative to solar heat gain which had been held in check by open ecosystem Large. Mankind has disrupted a balance holding things habitable and cost of food rising- it is forcing things. Few can see Mankind the the agent of change we are to Earth. -We carved that baby up and don't give a hoot about heat exchange physics..
ReplyDeleteThere are plans put forward to check this at Arctic News and locally to me.
The atmosphere is loaded beyond point where emissions reductions matter and stopping Earth from overheating relative to Habitable Zone isn't actually possible even theoretically until Thermodynamic Law is satisfied to Zeroth..